Ratification of the Eleventh Amendment -- Early Interpretation -- Reconstruction and American Law -- The Eleventh Amendment and the End of Reconstruction: Louisiana and North Carolina -- An Exception: Virginia -- Another Exception: Cities and Counties -- From 1890 to 1908 -- After Ex Parte Young: The Eleventh Amendment in the Twentieth Century -- An Epilogue on the Rule of Law and Legal History
Summary
This book reconstructs the fascinating but obscure history of the Eleventh Amendment to the US Constitution, which limits the exercise of US judicial power when American states are sued. Its modern meaning was largely shaped around cases concerning the liability of Southern states to pay their debts during and after Reconstruction: by shielding states from liability, the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Eleventh Amendment eased the establishment of post-Reconstruction Southern society and left a maddeningly complicated law of federal jurisdiction
Analysis
United States Law courts Judicial powers, to 1986
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 185-208) and index
